Jan 10 6pm One in Christ Eph 2:11-22

See what Paul's talking about is a long history of brokenness between Jews and Gentiles. He's not talking about hoping for tolerance in the church. Not just a go along to get along. He's talking about having the deep racial divisions and not just racial divisions, but law divisions, specifically the ceremonial cleanliness code being removed from Christians whether or not they were Jew or Gentile so that they could now walk together. [00:30:07] (42 seconds)  #UnityNotTolerance

You know how hard it is for us to get along? Can you imagine trying to get along with somebody that you have hated for a very long time. The division between Jew and Gentile is thousands of years old by the time Paul writes this letter. What's at stake in this text is not just information about the first century, but what's at stake in this text for our local church is putting God's love on display through the way we love one another. That's what's at stake. And so let's press in to verse 11 together as we begin with separation. [00:30:49] (45 seconds)  #LoveOnDisplay

Paul tells us in Romans that when sin came into the world and death through sin and then therefore sin and death to all men. That sin took advantage of the law, and now what took place in the lives of the Jewish people who were chosen by God, Genesis 12, in order to be a light to the darkness and to be a blessing to the world. These people took the privilege of being god's people. And instead of loving others and pointing them to god, they held on to all of the things themselves and looked down upon everyone else who was not like them. [00:35:00] (40 seconds)  #SinAbusedPrivilege

And this is really bad news. They were far off, Paul says in this text. Far away from God. Far away from his presence. If you're in Christ, do you remember what that was like? Do you remember the time in your life when you were far away from god? Maybe you're there right now. Maybe maybe you feel far from god. Maybe you've never looked to Christ, our mediator, and by faith, look to him and said, I need to be reconciled. [00:40:53] (37 seconds)  #CeremonialLawsRemoved

The God is a God of love and mercy and justice. And you will stand before God one day and be judged by the reality of the life you've lived, all of your sin and the weight of it, and you will be destroyed under the righteous judgment of God. But God, but now, we see in Ephesians two, we have good news because of God's love and mercy. He has sent his son to take those who are far off and to draw them near. [00:45:58] (31 seconds)  #FarFromGodRemembered

It's been a a week for for my family. It's probably been a week for some of you. Sometimes you have a week that feels like a year. You know? And that was this week. And as I think about the reality of what it means to be in Christ, it doesn't matter what my week has been like or how many years it may feel like. My hope is in Christ. And because my hope is in Christ in the middle of this broken world, when the world continues to break, I'm not shocked. I'm not caught off guard. I just keep trusting in Christ. Amen. And that's the opportunity we all have. [00:48:45] (43 seconds)  #HopeInChristEveryWeek

See, hostility exists in two directions primarily. First, upward or vertically with God. And second, horizontally with one another. At the cross, Christ did what the temple could never do, what the sacrificial system could never do, what keeping the law could never do, what Jesus did through his perfect life and his sacrificial death is he has removed the barrier that separated God from man. [00:55:45] (33 seconds)  #CrossRemovesBarrier

that's why the temple no longer stands. God had the temple destroyed in seventy AD. Why? Because the Jews were still struggling with the reality of what it meant to be in Christ. When you read the New Testament, they're still dealing with the reality of we were once Jews and all of our worship was centered around the temple. What Paul tells us here is you are the temple. You don't need that edifice that represents separation anymore. Christ is in you. [00:56:19] (32 seconds)  #GodDrawsTheFarNear